Effectiveness of Physiotherapy With Dance Therapy for the Improvement of Aerobic Capacity and Flexibility in Elderly Females With A History of Falls

Abstract

Physical, cognitive and functional degenerative changes occur naturally during human aging process coupled to a higher trend in falling. Fear is coupled to locomotive weaknesses and consequently to a lessening of aerobic capacity, flexibility and life quality. Current study analyzes the effectiveness of physiotherapy with dance therapy in the aerobic capacity and flexibility of elderly females with frequent falls. The case study comprised seven over-sixty-old females with at least one fall event during the last year. They were evaluated at the start and finish of the intervention by a 6-min walking test and the sit-and-reach test. Intervention comprised 18 physiotherapy sessions plus dance therapy three times a week. Data were analyzed by SPSS 14.0 at 5% significance level. Initial and finish flexibility evaluation were 26.7±4.3 and 30.3±3.6 cm, respectively, with p = 0.02. Rates for initial and finish evaluation were 543.6±53.6 m and 580.5±35.3 respectively for the distance, with p = 0.01. Proposed protocol was efficient for the above mentioned group with a significantly statistical improvement in all variables under analysis and featuring flexibility and aerobic capacity.